Ashdod desalination plant gets financial approval

Israel's Ministerial Tender Committee for Desalination, under the Finance Ministry, announced on 7 July 2011 that it had accepted the proposal from national water company Mekorot to build the seawater desalination plant in Ashdod.

Under the terms of the contract, the company undertook to complete the financial closing of the project by 15 September 2011, with the date of commencement of supply of water set at September 2013. The price of water from the project will be ILS 2.4/m³ (US$ 0.70/m³) in real terms.

Following completion of the Ashdod project and the 150 m³/d desalination facility at Soreq, at least 540 million m³/year of desalinated water will be available, constituting about 40% of total freshwater consumption in the country.